Baseballs, Friends, and No-Crying Rules
by Bangarrang
Summary: Cloud has a normal life (not really): he loves baseball, has a crush on a girl whose friends hate him, and has to take care of his annoying brother, Roxas. But when Roxas gets hurt, Cloud learns that there are somethings you can't take for granted. Rated K for injury, some blood and Cloud getting beat up. Based on Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonninblick.


_Ok, I read this awesome book called Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick and it inspired me to write a story about an older brother taking his younger brother for granted. That plus my current Cloud fandom, equals this story! _

_P.S. this is NOT an incest story, those terrify me._

_Disclaimer-I don't own Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, Nike, Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts._

"Hey batter batter!" the kid on the pitching mound called.

Twelve-year old Cloud Strife stood at home plate. He tapped his old blue bat on the the tip of his white, black and red Nike sneaker. For good luck.

If he made this hit, they would finally except him, Tifa and her gang. He had to make it. Had to. Had to.

The pitcher wound up and threw the ball as hard as he could at Cloud.

"Hey, Strife! It's your shadow!" the first baseman called, causing the blonde to miss.

Cloud looked over to the fence and saw his little brother, Roxas.

"Strike one!" a beefy boy behind him called.

Cloud took a deep breath as the pitcher picked up another dirty baseball.

"You're-gonna-miss-you're-gonna-miss-you're-gonna-" the catcher chanted.

"Shut your trap." Cloud growled.

"Hey, Strife," he said.

The pitcher reared his arm back.

"I see your mother in left field. She's naked."

Cloud missed. He spun around and tackled the catcher, ripped off his helmet and sent punch-after-punch to his face.

He clawed at the boy's arms, all sense lost.

One of the other kids ran over and pulled Cloud, who was kicking and cussing like there was no tomorrow, off the catcher.

The other, slightly older kid held Cloud while the catcher kneed him in the gut and punched him in the face, affectively giving the blonde a black eye.

He threw Cloud on the ground. The rest of the kids crowded around him.

The catcher kicked some red dirt at him.

Tifa stood slightly away from her friends, as if she didn't like how they were treating Cloud, but didn't do anything.

Cloud lay there on his stomach for a second, blood trickling out of his mouth. Then he got up, dusted himself off, and walked to the gate.

"What a reject." one said.

Roxas was standing behind the fence, his little hands holding the diamond chain link.

Cloud kicked open the door and picked up the little boy, who took Cloud's baseball cap off and put it on his own head. The kids on the field were laughing hysterically.

"Worthless orphan!" the bleeding catcher yelled, but with his rapidly swelling nose and lips it sounded like "Wortlith ohfon!" but Cloud got the message.

"Cloudy, your bleeding." Roxas informed him.

"Why do you do this to me?" Cloud hissed, ignoring him.

The five-year old looked up at him.

"I would've hit that if you hadn't come along. Then I wouldn't have beat that kid up."

Cloud knew that blaming this kid wasn't right, and it wasn't his fault anyway, but Cloud was too angry and embarrassed.

"Why are you mad?" Roxas wondered.

"Because. If I had hit that pitch...they would've let me into their group." Cloud mumbled.

"Oh...well, go back! I'll wait." his brother promised.

Cloud shook his head. "I can't go back now. They'll laugh at me."

The little boy's mouth screwed up. "Cloudy, you don't have very nice friends."

Cloud sighed. "I don't have any friends."

The small boy straightened his back. "I'm your friend!" he jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb.

"No, you're my brother."

They got home and Cloud stalked to the backyard, still holding his brother.

He set Roxas down and pulled the ancient pitching machine from the garden shed, along with a bucket of old baseballs.

Walking to the patch of dirt that was the makeshift home plate, Cloud called: "Roxas! Pull that lever when I say!"

Roxas put his hand on the lever and beamed. "Ok!"

Cloud pulled his arm back, readying him self for the pitch.

"Go!" he yelled. Roxas yanked the lever down and a ball flew at his older brother.

Cloud hit the target hard, sending it to the roof.

"Go!"

This time, the ball broke a window. Cloud winced, then thought: What does it matter?

That seemed to be Cloud's life motto now. Ever since his parents died and he was left to take care of his brother, the little things didn't seem to matter as much. His grades had plummeted, he'd been kicked off the baseball team for breaking a kid's collarbone and the only thing keeping them in the house was the huge amount of inheritance money from his parents' wills.

His life motto was about to be tested.

Roxas put the ninth baseball in the pitching machine.

"Number 7, Cloud Strife up to bat." he murmured, psyching himself up. "It's been a great season for Strife, but that doesn't matter. The game is tied and if he can't make this hit, the Wolves can forget about the championship."

Roxas pulled the lever.

"The pitch is set! Strife swings...he hits it!"

"Yay!" Roxas yelped, jumping up and down.

Then the ball cracked Roxas on the forehead.

The little blonde fell backwards. For a second, Cloud just stood there, his arms extended.

Then he broke into a run towards his brother.

Cloud cradled Roxas in his arms. The little boy was barely awake and bleeding profously from the head.

"Cloudy..." he whimpered.

"I-it's ok Roxas. You'll-you'll be fine." Cloud told him, making more of an attempt to convince himself.

"I will? Whatever you say...Cloudy..." Roxas murmured.

Head wounds...what do I do for a head wound...? Cloud wondered.

Cloud ripped off some of his baseball jersey and pressed it to Roxas' forehead.

"Cloudy..."

He looked down. "Y-yeah?"

"I'm sleepy...can I take a nap? Please?"

Thinking...thinking...thinking...WAIT HE CAN'T GO TO SLEEP!

"No!" Cloud yelled. Roxas looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Why...why not?" Roxas asked, looking a little afraid of his brother.

"B-because..." Cloud hugged him to his chest.

"Cloudy...it hurts..." Roxas mumbled into his shirt.

"Eh?"

"My head...it hurts..." he whimpered.

"It's going to be ok...it's going to be ok...it's going to be ok..." Cloud told Roxas, over and over again. He rocked back and forth.

Cloud stood and started running to the little hospital only a few blocks from his house.

He bursted through the doors into the lobby.

There was no one there.

"Help!" Cloud screamed. "My brother! My baby brother...!" he began panting, the run taking it's toll.

A nurse, upon hearing his cries, rushed into the room.

She called a few other people with a stretcher.

They took Roxas away.

Cloud sat on the floor. After a while, a man with red hair walked in.

He crouched in front of Cloud. "Hey kid? I need you to tell me what happened to your brother. Ok?"

Cloud nodded numbly.

"I...I was practicing baseball in the back yard and...he was standing in front of me and I...hit him in the face..." Cloud told him, shamed.

The man nodded. "It's alright. It wasn't your fault. Come with me."

Cloud trailed behind him. They got to a door with grey lettering on it.

The man intstructed Cloud to sit on the window sill across from the door, then disappeared.

Cloud stared at his hands.

I can't believe I did that...

_...he's only five..._

_...he can't die..._

_...I'll be alone..._

_...my parents are dead, nobody wants me..._

_...I hate being alone..._

_...please be ok..._

_...Roxas..._

After four eternities, the redheaded man made a reappearing act.

"..Cloud Strife, right?" he said.

Cloud continued to stare at his hands, in his lap.

He's died. I killed my own brother. What's wrong with me? I can't believe I took him for granted. Please forgive me Roxas.

"He's ok."

Cloud looked up.

"Wha...?"

The man nodded. "Your brother, he's going to be alright."

Cloud bolted up.

"Can I see him?"

"Of course. Follow me." the man beckoned. The short blonde bounded gleefully (for the first time since HE was five) after him.

The man stopped next to a door. He gestured to the door in an 'after you' kind of way.

Cloud stopped, his hand on the cold doorknob.

_What if he's maimed forever? What if he lost all his memory? What if he hates me for doing this to him?_

All these 'what ifs' and more screamed through Cloud's head in a nano second.

He finally decided to open the door. He pushed against it, but it seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.

Cloud was sure he would be pushing against that door forever, while his baby brother grew up hating him on the other.

The door opened.

Cloud walked in as quietly as he could. Then, once he saw his brother, he sprinted the remaining three feet.

"Roxas!" he yelped.

Roxas smiled weakly from the bed. A thick band of gauze circled his head.

"Hiya...Cloudy..."

Cloud hugged Roxas tight. Roxas was surprised, then happy, for his brother never had hugged him like this before.

"Roxas...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." the smaller of the two heared his brother say. Suddenly, he felt something wet fall on his face.

"For...what?" the little boy asked, confused.

"For everything. For hitting you and ignoring you and...for being the worst brother in the history of the world..." Cloud told him.

By then, Roxas' face was covered in Cloud's tears. Then, Roxas began to cry himself.

Cloud was shocked, then worried he had done something else wrong.

"W-what?" he asked, pulling himself away to examine the other.

"C-cuz your n-not sup-pposed to cr-ry, Cloudy!" he wailed, his own tears running down his face and dripping onto his bloody shirt.

Was that true? Was it against some unsaid rule for Cloud to cry? In Roxas' world, apparently.

Cloud wrapped the boy in another, more cautious hug.

"You're right Rox. I'm not. I'm sorry."

The down pour lightened immediately. Roxas took a handful of Cloud's shirt in his fist, curling up against his chest.

"It's ok, Cloudy...I love you..." he yawned.

Cloud leaned against the headboard, his brother still in his arms.

"I love you too, Roxas."

X

_There! R&R pleez! I've got another idea for a Cloud and Roxas family story, but it'll probably take me awhile. :P Anywayz, don't flame me!_


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